Buying for the sake of buying

[orionpax1]

I was the same, i only got back into collecting transfomers about 10 years ago and when energon/armada/cybertron came out i bought it because it was transformers, i didnt care if it looked crap. Now i have bought some of the movie lines and animated only the ones that look great (Dinobots im looking at you), but now i have been thinking (and this thread has got me thinking about it more) did i really like some of these figures or did i buy them because they were t/formers (more like because they were t/formers) . I use to keep stuff in boxes (still have a couple only because iam waiting on more room) but then realised why? im not going to sell them so i might as well get them out and transfrom them and display them for all to see. Now i dont have hundreds and hundreds of them (250 i think) and im not a completist (except for g1 which will take me awhile but i will do it) so i have just narrowed it down to g1 (im including the encore and other reissues to make this happen) and universe and the odd great looking figure from other lines to collect . So now i have to go through my energon/amarda and cybertron lines to sell.

[Paulbot]

There's some great thoughts and comments here that are helping my thinking.

I'm working on a reply but there's a lot of posts to quote!

[JuzMel]

Kinda the opposite to Mel here, but I love the hunt/chase for new toys. It's actually been worse with the strong exchange rate, as almost all my toys were imported, but a weaker rate may encourage me more to go out and personally find the toys.

And I don't bother about the whole exchange hassle thing - if I find a toy within my budget, I'll get it and move on. I won't let it linger as a loose end with receipts filed away for that off-chance I can get a couple dollars back and waste more time running around doing it. With all the toys out there to collect, it's no wonder that sort of routine is killing the fun for you Mel.

Hey Griff, I used to love going on a hunt for new toys too, that was fun back when I was staying in Gippsland, cause there weren't much fans/children "to fight" with because there was only 1 Kmart, 1 Target and 1 Big W around the area which was 150kms away from Melb. And I bought alot from ebay that time too, where I got all my favourite Cybertron and G1 toys. I remember Mr Postie used to bring a parcel at least 3-4 times a week. And like u said, the move to city and the weak exchange rate made the move to go out personally to hunt for toys more.

As for the routine refund/repurchase/price-match for TFs stuff, I guess I was unknowingly influenced by some of the boys (not a bad thing because it did helped me save some money). But it has just really taken a strain and I sometimes just don't bother doing it anymore, unless its convenient. As my mum told me, the time and effort you take to drive here and there to repurchase/refund is just not worth it.

but I think very few collectors here are in it for the competition. On the US boards, I definitely get that vibe, but no one here I've seen is out to outdo anybody. We all have our particular niches.

Yeah I don't think anyone here is trying to show off or compete who has the most/best TFs. I guess we all get excited and want to let everyone know when we buy a new TF or a holy grail. As mentioned before the nice acquis from people informed me of other TF figures and items out there that I did not know off.

The buying of it now gives u an option to at least offload it later on if you don't want it anymore. It's always cheaper to buy now than later.

Buying for the sake of buying becomes a problem when you can't afford it and keep doing so but at the cost of not paying bills or missing meals.

I guess I kinda share the same sentiments about "Buy now and decide later" rather than "Don't buy and regret later". But I set a limit and only buy those TFs that I really like or somewhere in between that I can't decide. I have never been a real completist anyway.

And yeah I've been buying less when my mum was over visiting in the last 3 months, so I kinda had less budget and even had to stop completely for a couple of weeks. But it has not and will never get to the point where meals/bills were skipped to buy TFs. (P.S: This month had no money for TFs becoz of Xmas Pressies and new clothes, shoes, handbags etc... )
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I guess Paul, from now in, maybe just buy the ones you really like so you have time to open and play with them? And those that you don't really like, you sell/give them away? For me toys like Real Gears or TF Tech don't serve any meaning at all to me. They are merely toys created by Hasbro to earn more money.

My TFs are mainly in boxes now also because I don't want them to get dusty and I know I will be moving house again in a couple of years so they will be easier and more protected when transported in their boxes. I will surely open them and create my dioramas when the future hubby and I get our own house and I can have my glass cabinets.

[Paulbot]

The responses here have been great and I've had a good read through them tonight, and have been thinking about this since my initial post.

Collecting for me has become more like an addiction and I will be cutting back in 2009. The problem with having a disposable income makes it easy to spend money (and there are some personal issues that I avoid by occupying myself with shopping for Transformer that I shan't go into).

One thing I've already noticed is that I've started to get a little more selective. Things like Movie Mudflap and Inferno were repaints I didn't feel any need for. A few weeks ago I left Special Edition Optimus and Megatron and Universe Stormcloud all left on the shelf. I did that thinking I would buy them on sale but now I think I might just never buy them.

Most of those unopened toys pictured above are repaints of toys I already have, which makes it less compelling to open it when I've already played with that toy before. So the question is why did I buy them? I like the look of them but really I only need one of each toy in order to enjoy it's transformation which is the major reason I still buy these things.

Although there's been Melbourne fans in Ozformers as long as I've been a member it's only been in the past couple of years that there's been a Melbourne fan community. It's no longer the case that if I want to play with a Transformer I have to buy it, because I might be able to play with someone elses toy. For instance I played with STL and LCZ's Ironhides at the Southland meet up, so when I bought Ironhide (both Classic and Henkei!) I wasn't all that compelled to open either as I'd already played with the toy.

Like LiegePrime, Ebay also became an issue once I started using it, and that high aussie dollar made it even more tempting to buy up toys I didn't get when I had the chance. I did have a list of older toys I most wanted and I got most of them and then pretty much stopped using ebay which I take as a good sign. Although I did sometimes buy extra toys because the shipping would make the deal.

I do believe I have enough toys and as STL mentions space is an issue for me at present. I'm trying to open many of the toys above, as opened toys take up so much less space. I'm also thinking of getting a storage shed like Zippo, just for some more breathing space. I'm also looking at some of those toys I could sell on.

I also find the hunt exciting. The anticipation when a sale is on, wondering if the store will still have what I want and then looking through the store for the item. I think I could maintain this by looking for other people. In fact some of the times recently where I've felt more pleased with a found and purchased toy has been when I've been looking for it on behalf of another member.

SofaMan's four rules were pretty much exactly how I used to buy Transformers and what I think I shall head back to

1) No repaints.
2) What lines do you love?
3) Avoid toys with little or no play value.
4) Where possible, wait for the sales.

The other thing I pondered is that unlike what I'd say is the majority of members here, I've never come back to Transformers. Transformers were toys I kept buying and when there were lean periods I was making new characters and stories up. I still get a lot of enjoyment out of Transformers and use Transformers as a creative outlet so that hasn't changed, but I think I need fewer new toys so I can appreciate the ones I do get as much as I used to.

[STL]

Ironically, the response I had to this problem is the display of my little Iacon Hub Capital itself. If you haven't checked out my collection here it is. (Yeah, I know, I know, gratuitous plug). Why you might ask? Well, this room I am using is not a small room by any stretch of the imagination. The room is the downstairs rumpus room which is right next to a cellar and the garage.

When I was first told that I could have use of the room downstairs as my parents were moving the spare spare double bed out and other furniture, I was gleefully surprised. In the past year, the component of my collecting exploded as I developed an unhealthy habit of purchasing for display. By purchasing for display, I bought a lot of MIB & MISB items that looked nice in box or Japanese versions of US items already in my possession. At that point, there was no space for displaying so most items were stored in closets, boxes and whatnot. It didn't seem like a very large problem. However, as the year drew to a close and my mother offered me the downstairs rumpus, I came to the shocking realisation that there simply was insufficient space. And here I had a very large room. It was the realisation of a dream.

But it wasn't enough.

I realised that even if I chose to display my loose toys on the shelves instead of books, I'd still not have enough room for everything. It came down to a choice between all my loose toys vs. all my "displayable" toys. In the end, I went for the MIB/MISB b/c ultimately it was much easier to dust whereas dusting 992 loose figures was sure as heck going to be a pain.

But there and then it dawned on me. There is a limit to buying. I was originally going to argue that one day when you have enough room it'll be worth it. It was my plan to display everything over the summer and then show it off and show how when u have enough room, it really was all worth it.

Fact is, I was wrong. There is a limit. This rumpus room is not small. It's large and everything I ever dreamed of but now I've essentially reached the maximum I can display in this room. Between my bedroom and my own room, that's a damn lot of space. Yet still I can't display everything. All those G1 toys I really want to? Nope. Not happening. Energon, Beast Wars, Cybertron, RiD, Animated, Classics etc? No chance. And that's a reality that's slowly starting to sink in.

I love my TFs.

But there's only a certain extent that I will tolerate them dominating my life, home and space. And I realised that I'm very close to reaching that point.

So yes, there is a limit we all reach. I think that unless you plan to have a mansion with sections of your house devoted to TFs, it simply just is not feasible to have much more than 1500 Transformers. I'm closing in on 1800 and am already reconsidering how I buy once again.

[d*r*j*]

So yes, there is a limit we all reach. I think that unless you plan to have a mansion with sections of your house devoted to TFs, it simply just is not feasible to have much more than 1500 Transformers. I'm closing in on 1800 and am already reconsidering how I buy once again.

1,800 of anything would be hard to display... that's what I would consider a transformers museum.

[GoktimusPrime]

I display everything - I refuse to have any of my Transformers in storage. A large part of that comes from the fact that I love playing with my toys and having them on display makes them more easily accessible instead of rummaging through toy boxes. Rummaging also scratches/damages toys more easily.

[Tiby]

I have had the same sort of problem, Paulbot. With the recent shameless repaints and "versions" of characters (same character in different size classes) I have found it hard to get excited. The new Universe and part of the Animated line have done this for me, but I really miss the old days where Bumblebee was a Minibot and no other size, Optimus Prime was a larger toy and not remolded in every other size, and there was only one toy for each character.

Sure, it is my choice to buy the other sizes, and I could just choose to buy the one size or class of character that I think fits best, but we are often left with subsequent waves introducing better versions or more appropriate sizes (Leader Bulkhead, Movie Megatron).

I am really trying to find the magic again, in time for the Collectors interview!

[liegeprime]

I am really trying to find the magic again, in time for the Collectors interview!

Oooh Tiby's loosing his Collector's Mojo Noooooooooo!! get it together man! You're gonna be representing us TF collectors there, be strong, be enthusiastic! Show them it's brings tremendous joy collecting TFs even if it bites the wallet really hard! You can do it!(waves imaginary pom poms and blows imaginary horn )

[GoktimusPrime]

Just think back to pre-Beast Machines.